Distant Dreams
by XxLittle Miss LovelitxX
Summary: Her world seemed to crumble apart after her mother's death. She was unable to handle life's situations and was forced out of her apartment complex after being unable to pay the rent. He offered her a helping hand. And he may be more than a passing face...


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**Distant Dreams**

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Inuyasha. The proper credit for this amazing series goes to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 1

Her soft chesnut eyes stared out her apartment window, watching the patter of falling rain as the water streamed off rooftops and collected into the empty streets. It seemed as though it were a dream, as if the incident involving her mother and the silver compact SUV had never occured. She frowned bitterly, remembering those last moments of life clinging in her mother's body before the poor woman could endure no more.

It had all seemed like an illusion. An illusion only eighteen-year-old Kagome Higurashi wished to believe in.

_Okaasan..._

Kagome's fists clenched on the smooth wooden edge of the chilled window sill, her eyes squinted, burning with the intensity of unshed tears. The memories flashed before her mind's eye, capturing every fiber - every detail - of her mother's characteristics so as if not to forget her kind, happy face as it once was before the accident had ruined her life forever.

_O...kaasan...!_

Kagome crumbled to the floor, her hands still holding onto the window sill, her forehead pressed firmly to the burgundy wall and her eyes tightened shut.

_'Don't cry Kagome,' the woman whispered in her ear, pulling her close and craddling her child's head in her arms._

_The child, teary-eyed and sniffling, embraced her mother and sobbed, her shoulder-length black hair left astray. _

_'Okaasan!' the girl cried. _

_Her mother simply smiled and allowed for her daughter to let out her emotions, running her hand over the child's back, soothing the girl with sweet words and quietly hummed lullabies._

The rememberance of her deceased mother's sweet words made Kagome feel slightly better, giving her the strength to stand again and cast another glance out the window before turning into the kitchen to find an activity to keep her mind occupied. She decided to brew up a fresh batch of coffee considering the coffee inside the container had turned cold and stale. She dumped the contents down the sink and prepared to make up some more when the doorbell rang throughout the silent apartment.

"Huh?" _Who could that be? _Kagome wondered.

She sat the supplies down on the granite counter and rushed to the door as quick as possible. Upon opening the door, Kagome's eyes stretched in horror. A short man with a scrutinized face and squinted eyes stood in her doorway. His face gave away no emotion of what he was feeling. He wore a tan business suit with a colbat colored tie. As she swallowed hard, the man pushed his small glasses up on the bridge of his stub of a nose and casted her a distasteful look with his forest green eyes.

He said in a gruff voice, "Higurashi Kagome, is it?"

Kagome nodded numbly in response. "Uh-huh..."

"Hmm..." From his pant's pocket, the man withdrew a notepad and expertly flipped through the pages until he landed on a particular page that he seemed to be searching for. Furrowing his bushy gray brows, he examined the page and slammed the book shut and looked to Kagome once more.

Kagome tensed under the man's stare.

Finally, the man spoke again and Kagome zapped from her trance-like state to pay attention to the words escaping his lips. He told her sternly, "It has come to my attention that you have not payed your rent that was due two weeks ago."

Kagome's mouth went dry. She knew the reason behind the late rental payments, but she had yet to mention a word of it to her apartment manager, Hibiki Makoto.

_It's not as though he'd take pity on me, though, _Kagome told herself bitterly, knowing Makoto from the inside-out.

She forced on a smile and laughed awkwardly.

"W-well..." stammered Kagome. "...um...you see, I've been a little occupied lately, what with work and college and all that good stuff." She wrapped her fingers around the golden doorknob and began slowly bringing the door to a close. "If you just give me a little more time to pay it off, I promise I'll have the money in by Friday-!"

Makoto's ugly brown dress shoe jammed itself in the doorway just before Kagome had a chance to slam the door shut. She cursed lowly under her breath and reopened the door with a grimace. Makoto narrowed his eyes to Kagome, annoyed.

"Do you think your being amusing Miss Higurashi?" he asked quizzically. Adjusting his glasses, he fixed her with a serious frown and went on, muttering, "I happen to take my job quite seriously, Miss. And if you don't have the money in by Friday _morning, _I'll kick you out of my apartment building and into the streets! Understood?"

Kagome gaped.

"But Makoto-san...!"

"I will not hear any more of your excuses," he stated. Makoto swiveled around and strolled down the hallway briskly. He called over his shoulder, "Have the money in by then or I will have no choice but to remove you from the residence!" And with that, he disappeared down the flight of stairs.

Kagome watched as he went, her heart heavy, a sigh escaping her lips.

_Great... _

She shut the door after long moments and sunk to the floor. Kagome ran her fingers through her thick bangs in frustration.

_The last thing I need right now is rental payments to worry over._

Kagome glumly glanced to her shoe covered feet. She had lacked the energy to take them off after coming home late from her mother's funeral yesterday afternoon. Like all funerals it seemed almost like an old tradition for rain to poor from the sky, as if the heavens were weeping their sorrow for the families loss. Kagome had stood idley by listening to the preacher's words carry on by the gust of wind that swished through the area, smacking into her face and whistling in her ears.

Kagome had wanted to forget the day so badly it was slowly eating at her insides just thinking about it. How could you not lull over the fact that a loved one in your family had passed on into the next life? It aggravated every fiber of her being to be left alone with her memories of that dreary day of heartache.

Never would she forget the depression that hung in the air... the anguish masked upon everyone's shadowed faces though they voiced not a word of what they felt... and the flooding of hot tears mixed with rain dampening her cheeks.

At that, a stray tear threatened to escape her eye.

_No, _Kagome told herself.

She wiped the corner of her eye with her navy-blue jacket sleeve and straightened up. _Okaasan wouldn't want me crying over her loss. She would want me to stay strong and move on. _

The thought bared firmly in mind, Kagome picked herself off the ground and returned back into the kitchen once more, her mind averting away from the tragedy and focusing more on the loud sploosh of steaming coffee as it emptied into the container with a satisfying scent soon to follow.

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><p><em><strong>AN:** Reviews would be greatly appreciated! :) I hope I did a good job at writing this first chapter ^^' (I've been working on it for three days... THREE... DAYS...! O.O'). I'll try and update as fast as I can, but I can't guarantee annual updates due to school work and upcoming tests (Ugh! Tests! =.=). So please review if you can, give me your thoughts, and I'll try and reply back when I get the time! (Again... tests and school work might keep my schedule a little bit occupied, but I promise I'll try my hardest to write and reply!)_

_Ja ne!_

**_~XxLittle Miss LovelitxX_**


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